Fortaleza: Ghana held Germany to a 2-2 draw on Saturday (Sunday in India) despite veteran striker Miroslav Klose coming on as a substitute to tie the World Cup scoring record with the equaliser in their highly entertaining Group G match.
Klose now has 15 career World Cup goals, equalling the mark set by former Brazil star Ronaldo. Klose scored the equaliser in the 71st minute, less than two minutes after coming on, when a corner by Toni Kroos was flicked to the far post by Benedikt Hoewedes and the striker slid in to knock the ball into the roof of the net.
Mario Goetze had put Germany ahead in the 51st, but Ghana equalised three minutes later through Andre Ayew.
Ghana captain Asamoah Gyan then put the Africans ahead in the 63rd, only to see Klose cancel out his goal. The 36-year-old Klose is in his fourth World Cup and had been level with former Germany striker Gerd Mueller on 14 goals.
Ronaldo also scored his 15th against Ghana, in 2006 in Germany.
With coach Joachim Loew preferring to play with a “false nine” system without a striker, Klose sat out Germany’s opening 4-0 rout of Portugal.
But with Ghana threatening to put a damper on Germany’s hope of winning the group, Loew turned to his veteran, who provided again.
The draw continued Germany’s habit of struggling in second matches in a tournament and left it with four points from two matches.
“It doesn’t matter whether I play from the start or come off the bench: all games are important and 15 goals in 20 World Cup games isn’t bad,” said the Lazio striker.
The result revived Ghana’s hopes of progressing after their opening 2-1 loss to the USA. Ghana have one point and need to beat Portugual.
Gyan, whose goal saw him join Cameroon legend Roger Milla as the leading all-time African scorer with five, said that they had played much better than in the defeat by the United States.
“We believed in ourselves today,” the 28-year-old told the BBC. “I think tactically we were perfect today. Now we definitely have to beat Portugal. We will have to focus but we believe we can beat them.”
The draw has restored some amount of pride for the African continent, after an average showing so far.
Cameroon have already been knocked out, while Ivory Coast has recorded one win and one loss, with Nigeria drawing one and winning one. Algeria have played just one game so far (at the time of going to press). (Agencies)